Real Life & Liars [Paperback]

Kristina Riggle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 16, 2009

Sometimes you find happiness where, and when, you least expect it.

For Mirabelle Zielinski's children, happiness always seems to be just out of reach. Her polished oldest daughter, Katya, clings to a stale marriage with a workaholic husband and three spoiled children. Her son, Ivan, so creative, is a down-in-the-dumps songwriter with the worst taste in women. And the "baby," impulsive Irina, who lives life on a whim, is now reluctantly pregnant and hitched to a man who is twice her age. On the weekend of their parents' anniversary party, lies will be revealed, hearts will be broken...but love will also be found. And the biggest shock may come from Mirabelle herself, because she has a secret that will change everything.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Zielinskis, the dysfunctional family of Riggle's delightful debut, have some problems, even if things at Mirabelle and Max's 35th anniversary party—thrown by their three adult children—at first seem peachy. Soon, though, the cracks appear: daughter Katya's stuck in a loveless marriage and saddled with three bratty kids. Son Ivan's a struggling songwriter who falls for all the wrong girls, and the youngest daughter, Irina, is a free-spirited 21-year-old, knocked up by a man twice her age. There's just no more room in their lives for another problem, but Mirabelle has a secret—she's dying of breast cancer. With ease and grace, Riggle walks the fine line between sentimentality and comedy, and she has a sure hand in creating fun, quirky characters. Humorous and humane storytelling makes this much better than the standard cancer tear-jerker. (June)
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From Booklist

Mirabelle and Max Zielinski’s children have returned home for their parents’ thirtieth anniversary. Mirabelle must tell them that she was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, but they’re preoccupied with their own crises. Katya, the eldest, hides behind a perfectly controlled front, but her marriage and affluent lifestyle are in jeopardy. Ivan, the moody middle child, keeps pursuing the wrong women and can’t get his songwriting career off the ground. The youngest, Irina, shows up with a surprise husband and pregnancy. Faced with her mortality, Mirabelle is stricken by how her children have diverged from her hippie upbringing and wonders if they still need her. Riggle crafts a moving and accomplished first novel about a family coming to terms with change. The characters are familiar but not stereotypical, and the quaint setting of Charlevoix, Michigan, a beachfront town, adds to the nostalgic feel. --Aleksandra Walker

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Product Details

• Paperback: 327 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; 1 edition (June 16, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061706280
• ISBN-13: 978-0061706288
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,194,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kristina Riggle lives and writes in West Michigan. Her debut novel, Real Life & Liars, was praised by Publishers Weekly for its "humorous and humane storytelling" and by Booklist as "a moving and accomplished first novel." The book was a Target "Breakout" pick and a "Great Lakes, Great Reads" selection by the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association. The Life You've Imagined was honored as an "IndieNext Notable" book by independent booksellers.

Kristina has published short stories in the Cimarron Review, Literary Mama, Espresso Fiction, and elsewhere. She is also a freelance journalist writing primarily for The Grand Rapids Press, and co-editor for fiction at Literary Mama. Kristina was a full-time newspaper reporter for seven years before turning her attention to creative writing and freelancing. As well as writing, she enjoys reading, yoga, dabbling in (very) amateur musical theatre, and spending lots of time with her husband, two kids and dog.

Real Life & Liars is set in Charlevoix, Michigan, a town close to Kristina's heart as the home of her grandparents where she has visited often over the years. Her second novel, The Life You've Imagined, is set in the fictional town of Haven, Michigan, inspired by Grand Haven and similar small towns along the southern Lake Michigan shore. The Life You've Imagined tells of three friends and a mother connected by a dying family business, learning to cope with life as it is, not as they planned.

Kristina's next book, Things We Didn't Say, is a story of blended family and secrets, set in the historic neighborhood of Heritage Hill in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Debut Novel, July 12, 2009

By 

Julie Peterson "Booking Mama" (Central PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Real Life & Liars (Paperback)

I am very happy to say that REAL LIFE AND LIARS was a fantastic book. I always seem to enjoy books that are heavy on character development and deal with intense family dynamics, so it wasn't a big surprise to me how much I appreciated this novel. I became absorbed in the story and the characters from the start and had a hard time putting this book down. I was also extremely touched by this story because it pointed out to me how difficult it can be for families to just get along with each other -- an all too real situation for many families. The parts of the book that dealt with resentment and sibling rivalry were very honest looks at dysfunctional families as well as terrific material for a story about family dynamics. I think many readers will relate in some way to this story.

I absolutely love how Ms. Riggle chose to tell this story. The book consisted of many brief chapters from Mira and her children's points-of-view. For some reason, this format really kept me reading because it seemed like each short chapter left me wanting for more. I thought it was so creative how even though the chapters told each person's part of the story, only Mira's chapters were written in first person narrative. I thought this was crucial to my enjoyment of the novel because I didn't always relate to Mira. Being able to get into Mira's head and "hear" all her thoughts really helped me to not only understand Mira, but also to better understand the entire family.

I also enjoyed all of the characters in this story, and I thought Ms. Riggle developed them so well. That's not to say that I would want to be friends with all of them, but I thought each character was very real and made the book very interesting. When I was first introduced to the characters, I wasn't quite sure that I was going to "like" any of them. Every character in the family had their fair share of issues; and I often times found myself wanting to knock some sense into them. It seemed to me that each member of the Zielinkski family was extremely self-absorbed and unappreciative. However, as I read their stories and learned more about them, I realized why they were like this and I was hopeful that they could change. I was saddened that it took a family crisis to make these characters aware of what's important in life; but if that's what it took to wake them up, then I guess something good came out of the bad.

It's almost hard to believe that REAL LIFE AND LIARS is Ms. Riggles' debut novel because it is just so good. I loved her writing style and how she told this story; and I think she did a marvelous job of developing the characters. If you'd like to learn more about Ms. Riggle and her book, you can listen to the BlogTalk Radio show that was taped a few months ago. In addition, there is a great section in the back of the book called A+ Author Insights, Extra, & More which includes discussion questions and an author Q&A. I was so excited to read that Ms. Riggle is already busy at work with another book that deals with complex family relationships -- I can't wait to read it.

REAL LIFE AND LIARS would make a marvelous book club discussion book! I would find it hard to believe that anyone would not enjoy this novel, and I can only imagine how much fun it would be to discuss this family and all their mixed-up dynamics. As I mentioned earlier, there are

discussion questions located in the back of the book (if you feel like you need them.) Of course since I'm a sucker for books that deal with complicated family relationships, I appreciate the questions that focus on Mira and her dealing with her children. I also like the question that delves into what effect (if any) does birth order have on each of the three kids. Having said that, all of the questions are really very thought-provoking and sure to create a great deal of conversation.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Real life is not pretty, January 23, 2010

By 

Jenifer (WYOMING, MI, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Real Life & Liars (Paperback)

I came at this book with a bias -- I went to college with the author and we worked at the school paper together. That is part of the reason I held off on reading it for so long -- what if I hated it? Fortunately, I didn't hate the book. At the start, I felt like the characters were too stereotypical -- the hippie professor, the distracted writer, the Type A first born, the unloved middle child (imagine "Jan" from The Brady Bunch) and the free-spirited youngest. It bothered me until I realized that by presenting these stereotypical characters, Riggle made it easier for all of us to relate to them. I particularly liked her dual use of the first person and third person narratives - something that took me a bit to get used to but worked really well. Like other reviewers, it was nice to see the book not end neatly tied up. Lately it seems like most new novels want to end with a neatly tied bow. And as Riggle points out that is not "real life" and those who pretend it is are just "liars".

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific page-turner, July 7, 2009

By 

Caroline M. Grant - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Real Life & Liars (Paperback)

I adored this first novel by [...] fiction coeditor, Kristina Riggle. The novel takes place over the course of a weekend, when Mira Zielinski's three grown children come home to celebrate their parents' wedding anniversary. I loved all the characters, from the knowing but flawed Mira, her distracted novelist husband Max, and then their three kids: Katya, a suburban mother of three who, as Mira puts it, "drags [her younger siblings] along under the wheels of her train"; Ivan, a struggling songwriter who can't see the love that's right in front of him; and Irina, who is accidentally (reluctantly) pregnant and married to a man who isn't going to let her screw it up. They are vivid and engaging, and the writing is terrific; I kept stopping to reread sentences, letting the images sink in, and to wonder, with pleasure and admiration, "How did she think of that!?"